Last updated on 31 December 2025 by Brisbane Livewell Clinic Editorial Team
Can Hypnotherapy Help with Trauma?
Trauma can have a profound impact on an individual’s life, affecting their mental health, relationships, and overall well-being. As people search for effective treatments, hypnotherapy has emerged as an effective way to address trauma without retraumatising an individual.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is an emotional response to a distressing event or series of events. It can result from various experiences, such as:
- Physical or sexual abuse
- Natural disasters
- Accidents
- Combat exposure
- Witnessing violence
- Bullying
- Diagnosis of a chronic illness
- Child neglect
- Loss of a loved one
- Or any distressing experience which overwhelmed your ability to cope
What are the Effects of Trauma?
Depending on the trauma suffered and the individual, there can be a number of effects of trauma, including:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Anxiety and depression
- Flashbacks and nightmares
- Difficulty in relationships and attachment trauma (Anxious, Avoidant, Disorganised)
- Substance abuse
- Feeling unlike yourself
- Unable to complete everyday tasks
- Feeling like you are stuck and unable to move past the event(s)
What is Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is an education and communication process by which the conscious mind and the unconscious mind agree. This is done by bypassing the critical faculty of the mind and establishing selective thinking.
In hypnosis a trained therapist will guide you into a form of relaxation where your body and mind relax. You can hear everything, know where you are at all times, are able to move and adjust at any time and if you need to you can open your eyes. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis; a hypnotherapist merely acts as a coach guiding you into a state of relaxation.
Once you are relaxed and let go of judgement and critical thinking, you are able to relate to how you feel. The hypnotherapist is able to then use specific language to assist you in being more flexible to change. It is the ultimate means of heightening motivation by directing the unconscious mind to work in co-operation with your conscious desires.
We are all familiar with hypnosis; we call it a trance state. When you daydream, look out into the distance and are so focused on something you cannot pay attention to anything else, this is an altered state, a trance state, a state of hypnosis.
How Hypnotherapy Can Help with Trauma?
1. Accessing the Subconscious
Trauma often affects the subconscious mind. Clinical Hypnotherapy can potentially access these deeper layers of the psyche, allowing for processing and healing that may be difficult to achieve through talk therapy alone.
2. Reframing Experiences
Through guided imagery, suggestion and language, hypnotherapy may help individuals reframe traumatic experiences, reducing their emotional impact.
3. Stress Reduction
The relaxation techniques used in hypnotherapy can help reduce overall stress and anxiety associated with trauma.
4. Empowerment
Hypnotherapy may help individuals feel more in control of their responses to trauma triggers, fostering a sense of empowerment.
5. Memory Processing
Hypnotherapy can assist in processing traumatic memories in a safer, more controlled environment.
At its core, hypnotherapy strengthens the mind-body connection and it helps individuals to address psychological factors like stress, anxiety, and emotional or physical trauma. Remember, healing from trauma is a journey, and it’s important to find a therapist that you feel comfortable with.
